See Me Now, Princess? | Percabeth Short Story✔️

See That Over There? It's a Prologue

A/N: Lets try this again!

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When Percy and I were younger, one of our favorite games to play was House. We played multiple variations of the game, some he was the dad and I was the daughter or vice versa. Often times, we would invite the neighborhood kids to join us and the variety of roles multiplied tenfold.

I remember one day, however, more vividly than the others. On the last day of that summer, the only thing we wanted to do was play House. The other kids swam in pools or rode bikes up and down the sidewalks. But we wanted to play House.

"I play the dad and you play the mom." Percy had said as he handled his horse plush. "Blackjack is the dog."

"No, no, no," I responded. "That won't work."

"Why?"

I told him plain and simple; "How am I supposed to be married to someone I can't see? You're too short to be the dad."

He let out a deep breath as he stopped to think of a solution that would satisfy my stubbornness. I assumed it would take a while since I was the brains of the operation, not Percy. However, his face lit up in excitement before he dashed out of his room. Coming back in, he placed a footstool in front of me. When he stood on it, only then was he taller than me.

"There!" Percy said triumphantly. "You can— now you can see me."

I thought the idea was smart, but my pride had gotten in the way of being as joyful as he was. I glared at him. "But now you can't see me. You made a new problem."

"Then, I look down." He said, his little smile with missing teeth never faltering. "Besides, I need the—the practice."

"Practice? For what?"

"When I'm taller."

I could not believe my ears. I could not believe he had the audacity to think he would be taller than me. Of course, I knew boys got larger growth spurts then girls during puberty. But for whatever reason, I believed Percy's growth was permanently stunted. Perhaps this idea manifested from the cruel stereotypes of big football players, but never in a million years could I see Percy being taller than me.

"No." I insisted in my high, childhood voice. "I will always be taller than you, Seaweed Brain. I don't care if tallness is on your Christmas list. You won't be taller than me."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay fine. If you're so sure," Percy exaggerated the 'so' to be extra annoying, "we should make a bet."

I stared at him suspiciously. "As long as you don't cheat."

"I don't cheat!" He defended to which I responded with a sarcastic and drawn out 'sure'. Instead of engaging in a pointless argument about whether or not Percy cheats (he does), Percy explained.

"If you're right, you can have all my presents until we... we... we die!" Percy said.

"Alright, deal!"

"I haven't gotten to my part yet."

"But I'm gonna win."

"Just in case?" He offered. I nodded for him to continue. "If I do get taller then you, you— what's something bad?"

I shrugged, no ideas coming to me.

Percy looked around the room as if looking for inspiration. Finally, he looked down at the stool and a smirk appeared on his face. "If I win, you have to marry me in real life."

"I don't wanna do that!" I said. "Chose something else."

"So you don't think you will be taller than me?"

"No, but—"

"Then what's the big whoop? If you are always bigger than me, then it shouldn't matter what happens if you lose."

I thought for a moment.  "Alright. You gotta deal."

And that, my friends, is how I made both the smartest and dumbest choice of my life. But can you blame me? The pros outweighed the cons.

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A/N: I love how this part wasn't supposed to be its own chapter, but I decided to do it this way so I had more time to procrastinate the next chapter... (Republished Version: Mood)

Word Count: 690 words